New York, 3 May 2008 (Itar-TASS):
American and Russian Orthodox Church clergymen held a joint service at St Nicholas Cathedral in New York on Saturday. The service was led by the head of the Patriarchal parishes in the United States, Bishop Mercurius of Zaraisk, and the Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Gabriel of Manhattan. The miracle-working Kursk-Korennaya Icon of the Sign was brought to the cathedral before the service. It was carried forth in a religious procession after the service.
Joint Easter-tide services were never held at St Nicholas Cathedral before. The service involved over 60 clerics and hundreds of Orthodox believers. For the first time, the Kursk-Korennaya Icon of the Sign, which is considered to be the guardian of the Russians abroad and a pearl of Russian cultural heritage, was used during the service, the secretary of the manager of the Patriarchal parishes in the United States, Hegumen Josef said.
The head of the Patriarchal parishes in the United States, Bishop Mercurius of Zaraisk said the concelebration of American and Russian Orthodox priests on Saturday was a sign of unity within the Russian Orthodox Church. On Friday, the bishop told journalists that “not even a year has passed since the act restoring the unity of canonical unity within the Russian Orthodox Church was signed, and tomorrow’s service will become a sign of this unity. We will hold the divine service together. The Kursk-Korennaya Icon of the Sign will be brought to the cathedral. Hierarchs, clergy, and believers will pray together, and we hope that God will bless us when our procession moves along the streets of New York”, Vladyki Marcurius said. He said the upcoming service was especially important because it will take place “during Easter celebrations and Easter joy. New York is a significant city both for the Russian Orthodox Church abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate because the Patriarchal Cathedral and the Synodal Church of the Holy Sign are located here. And it is particularly important that we will all come together at St Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral”, the bishop said.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12643452&PageNum=0 (in English)
Editor’s Note:
I was present for the service on Saturday, and Nicky took photos. I shall make a post concerning it tomorrow. It was INSPIRING. The first stage of the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church in America is now a reality. We must now move on to reincorporate the healthy portions of the OCA into its Mother Church. We want you back, your place is waiting, and God shall not bless you until you do this, I believe. “It is a wonderful thing when brothers dwell together in unity”. Indeed.
